Many vehicles employ knee airbags to provide a degree of protection to the lower legs and knee regions of an occupant (e.g., the driver or a passenger) of the vehicle during a load event, such as when the vehicle collides with an object. The load event generally results in a momentum causing the occupant to move forward toward the dashboard or other component of the vehicle. When the load exceeds a certain threshold, the knee airbag may deploy and come into contact with the occupant's lower legs and/or knees to substantially prevent them from impacting the dashboard or other component of the vehicle, or to reduce the impact.
In some situations, the load event may occur off-center or at an angle to the direction of motion of the vehicle, such as when the vehicle collides with an object not substantially head-on. In such a situation, the forward movement of the vehicle and the resultant impact from the load event may cause the occupant to move laterally, such as toward a door or center console, in addition to forward. However, knee airbags generally are uniform in thickness, and therefore, do not account for this lateral movement.
Therefore, there exists a need for a knee airbag configured to limit the lateral movement in addition to the forward movement of an occupant of a vehicle during a load event.